By 1788 the French colony of Saint-Domingue supplied about half the world's coffee. Harsh conditions on the coffee plantations fed the revolution that began in 1791, and by 1801 most plantations had been burned.
After independence in 1804 the big plantations disappeared and coffee became a smaller crop grown around homes. Up to 1880 Haiti still exported about a million bags a year, and coffee taxes funded 70% of the national budget.
The old colonial Typica was Haiti's only coffee until 2012. After rust destroyed 80% of the remaining coffee that year, more resistant varieties began replacing it.
What time is taking away
Haitian colonial Typica
A colonial-era arabica Typica, praised for flavour, was the only variety grown in Haiti until 2012. Bark beetle, rust, low prices and state withdrawal have pushed farmers toward catigua and blue mountain varieties.1
What the record says
- By 1788 Saint-Domingue supplied about half the world's coffee.2
- By 1801 most of Saint-Domingue's coffee plantations had been burned.2
- After losing Saint-Domingue, Napoleon reportedly exclaimed 'Damn coffee!'2
- Colonial plantations were grown in full sun and lasted about a decade. Enslaved Africans who knew shade cultivation used those methods instead.1
- Up to 1880 Haiti exported about one million bags of coffee a year, and coffee taxes funded 70% of the national budget.1
- Orange rust destroyed 80% of Haiti's remaining coffee in 2012.1
- Haiti's coffee institute estimates about 250,000 families grow coffee.1
- Low-altitude coffee is harvested September to January; high-altitude coffee November to June.1
Some sources put Saint-Domingue's share at about 60%; we used 'about half'. The Napoleon quote is reported, not documented. The claim of 'world's first coffee exporter' and the 1726 introduction date come from AyiboPost; Wikipedia says coffee was growing by 1715, so no start date is given. Harvest months combine low- and high-altitude seasons.
- The local variety of coffee disappearing in Haiti · AyiboPost, 2021 in the bibliography
- Coffee production in Haiti · Wikipedia in the bibliography
